Death's door
by 555emms
Summary: Seventeen years after his murder, Matt's door finally reappears. He has to say goodbye to the friends he loves, to have a fresh new start. One-shot. O/C 'Celia'.


**I am still writing my other fanfiction 'The Guide to Becoming Human', I just needed a refreshing break, so I have decided to write a description of how Matt's door scene would finally play out. This is my opinion on the scene, so it ****isn't necessarily true.**** Enjoy!**

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><p>Matt stared at the dark door. His name was messily scribed into the wood around the centre. His mind flashed back to when he was 8 years old, clambering on the foot ladder with a kitchen knife, scrawling the letters before slicing the side of his hand. He needed 6 stiches.<p>

It had been 17 years since his door had appeared at Rathbourne High School. The heat of the moment meant that Mr Roe took his place instead. How Matt wished he passed over all that time ago, to save himself of the torture of the world spinning without him. He had seen Adam and Christa fall in and out of love with each other, with others. He saw Christa get married and have children. He had seen Adam find his true love, a fellow vampire. But Matt was stuck. He had met many ghosts in his seventeen years. Young, old. Sad, happy. But they all drifted on, away from him, passing over. He longed for his door to reappear, to finally relieve himself of the torture of never being able to have what his friends had. But the world wasn't ready for him to leave just yet.

'Matt?'

Adam appeared behind him, his fingers entwined with Celia's. A look of concern was spread across both of their faces, and a flood of relief surged through him. He had friends with him, people he knew would be able to wave him off to the other side.

'Is that you're door?' The beautiful Celia spoke up, her large blue eyes wider much more than normal. Her soft blonde hair fell over her shoulders, as a small vest fit her tiny frame snugly. She was the type of girl who could look great without even trying, much like Christa. A jolt of memory hit Matt. What about Christa? Was he going to pass over without even saying goodbye? Would she have time to come before it was too late? When Matt didn't respond to Celia's question, Adam was left to explain.

'We've told you this before, well, I think we have. The story about Mr Roe, 17 years ago. The gym, Matt's door. Got ugly and Roe-mo took his place on the other side?'

Celia's eyes lit up with the memory, nodding briskly at Adam.

'Do you want us to call Christa?' Adam turned his attention back to Matt, who was tracing the door with his chubby fingers. It was almost as every touch brought back a memory of his childhood, when he was happy. When he was alive.

'Is there time?'

Adam shrugged his shoulders, before tugging at the inside of his jacket, revealing a phone.

'There's no harm in trying. She only lives around the corner' He punched the digits into the mobile, then walked a short distance away as his conversation began, leaving Celia and Matt alone with his door. Matt had become good friends with Celia. It had been 10 years since she and Adam met, one day when the three were out they stumbled across her feeding from an old man. They offered to help her, as she had only been turned. They became a couple not long after – Adam being a sex maniac and all – and have remained the same since. If there was such a thing as fate, it was what pushed them together. It was time that Adam had moved on anyway. Christa ended up marrying Tom, they had three children together soon after; Jayna, Darren and Nora. They didn't inherit Tom and Christa's condition, and so they had decided not to tell them. It would remain a secret until they were old enough to understand, but until then a baby-sitter would look after them once a month whilst mummy and daddy had their 'traditional night away'. Both of them had learned to cope with their emotions leading up to the full moon, to tame their anxiety and touchiness for the sake of the children not suspecting anything. However, as the years went by, Christa had confided in Matt and Adam that it was becoming increasingly difficult to hide it from Jayna, her eldest child. She was ten years old, but certainly not one to be fooled. Every month when Tom and Christa went for their evening away, they found themselves trapped with thousands of questions from Jayna; asking where they were going, why, what time would they be back, what number to call if she needed to hear her mother's voice if she was scared, or had a bad dream. It broke Christa's heart to lie to her, but she knew it was for the best.

'She's on her way' Adam walked back towards them both, taking Celia's hand in his once again, staring at Matt's door.

'So. I guess this is it' He heaved a sigh as Matt nodded mutely, not taking his eyes off the wooden frame. A silence fell upon them, but it wasn't awkward or weird. It was a comfortable silence, the type you get when you just acknowledge the existence of one another without having to speak. The screech of tires interrupted Matt's thoughts, as Christa pulled up in an old bashed up Peugeot. There was only a certain amount of things she could afford since she dropped out of school when she was 18. The door flung open and she stumbled out, rushing towards the abandoned garages where the three were stood. Man, did she look tired. Her hair was washed, but clearly not brushed, only highlighting the dark purple bags under her brown eyes more so than usual. She had lost a lot of weight recently, Adam had been questioning this, thinking it could be part of the plan to have another baby, but she strongly denied it. It was all down to the fact that she and Tom were going through a financial crisis at the time, the stress and struggle to feed all her family meant that she was getting the negative impact of it all. A loose, dark red jumper and black jogging bottoms hung from her, as she greeted Celia and Adam before turning to face Matt. She didn't speak, but stepped forward wrapping her arms around him. Matt breathed in her lemony scent before she released her grip. He looked at her, realising that tears glazed over her soulful brown eyes as they overfilled, streaming down her face silently. Celia stepped forward, wrapping an arm around the 34 year old, comforting her. Adam walked around the two of them and stood in front of Matt. He had expected him just to pat him on the back, or fist thump him. But Adam leaned forward and pulled him into a hug. It was a _real _hug as well. Not some petty 'awkward embrace', but a hug between two friends that have known each other for seventeen years. Matt's eyes burned and stung, he could feel the salty water filling up in his eyes, but he didn't fight it. He let the tears roll down his plump cheeks, as he looked at his friends. The people who kept him going, reassured him that everything would be okay, they found his murderer and made Roe pay the price. These people who stood in front of him, were the people he would truly remember forever. His head was telling him to turn around and leave them, to grab hold of the door handle and open it to the unknown. But his heart was telling him to stay. To watch Christa grow old, to watch her children have children. He wanted to stay and watch Adam and Celia attempt to 'see the world', as they had simply put it. But no. He couldn't. What if this was his last door? He had to wait seventeen years for it to appear again. What if he had to wait longer? The torture of not having a life, but there wouldn't be anything he could do. He would have to _wait. _Something he had been doing for too long. He wasn't even living, for fuck sake. He was _dead. _

By now, Adam had noticed to contemplation on Matt's face. He patted him softly on the shoulder, before muttering the words;

'Everyone wants to go to heaven, Matt. But no one ever wants to die'

He nodded with agreement, for that statement described every single feeling that was running through his body. Matt's fingers felt numb as he lifted his hand to the door once again. A jolt of electricity hit him as he touched the handle. It felt right. He gently twisted it slowly, a clicking sound filling the silence, as the heavy wooden door creaked open. A bright light shone through, almost blinding him. Heaven. He turned around to see Adam squeezing both Celia's and Christa's hands, gritting his teeth as Matt took a step forward. He paused and stared at the werewolf and vampires.

'Go, Matt. Maybe someday, we'll see you again' Christa's voice broke as the words escaped her lips, Matt smiled reassuringly in response.

'Stay true. Live every moment you have. Maybe you're right. We might see each other again'

Matt stepped through the door to the Other Side, saying goodbye as he went. The light engulfed him, but he knew that he was doing a good thing. The love that he had for his friends would stay there, in his heart, forever. And they knew it.

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><p><strong><em>"There's this place in me where your finger prints still rest... your kisses still linger and your whispers softly echo... It's the place where a part of you will forever be a part of me. <em>****_This pain is part of being human … the fact that you can feel pain like this is your greatest strength."_**


End file.
